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Wildlife

Keeping communities and soldiers safe in Kenya

Personnel from the Kenyan Defence Forces and Sappers from 17 Field Squadron Royal Engineers sitting in the shade getting briefed on their task

Out in Kenya DIO staff are responsible for the physical safety of the training areas, keeping both the public and the military safe. The team work on a variety of tasks together with the British Army, the Kenyan Defence Forces …

Maintaining and protecting woodlands on the UK Defence Training Estate

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Defence Training Estate (DTE), Forestry, Landmarc, Sustainability, Wildlife
Woodland in Sennybridge with sun coming through the trees

Woodland at Sennybridge [Copyright Finn Beales] Did you know we're right in the middle of Forest Week, and that the UK Defence Training Estate is made up of  20,000 hectares of woodland? To help celebrate Forest Week, Judith Peachey, Forestry …

Encouraging the return of pine martens and red squirrels to Kirkcudbright Training Centre

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Conservation, Environment and Ecology, Wildlife
Two pine martens standing on rocks. One is looking at the camera. They both have brown fur with pale patches at their throats.

As Deputy Training Safety Officer for Kirkcudbright Training Centre in Dumfries and Galloway, I’ve been spending some of my time on a project designed to help Scotland’s native red squirrels. Kirkcudbright Training Centre is primarily used for infantry training, including …

Last chance to nominate projects for the Sanctuary Awards!

Nominations for the Sanctuary Awards close on 31 July and it’s your last chance to nominate projects across our categories from the Individual Achievement Award through to the Social Value and Sustainable Procurement and Construction Award.

Reversing the trend of declining bees on the Defence Training Estate

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Conservation, Environment and Ecology, Land Management, Landmarc, Wildlife

This week is National Pollinator’s Week and we’d like to share the initiatives we’ve put in place to help protect bees on the Defence estate. Bees are major pollinators, that ensure food and food security, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity and …

DIO initiates Chinook helicopter operation to help enhance wildlife habitat  

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Armed Forces, Environment and Ecology, Wildlife
A Chinook hovers over a barge holding large bags of aggregate.

A few weeks ago I was thrilled to be in Portsmouth Harbour to witness the culmination of three years of work on an unusual project.     I’m DIO’s Principal Ecologist, which means I lead a team responsible for managing the habitats and species on MOD …

Winners of Sanctuary Awards 2020 Announced

This week we hosted the first ever virtual Sanctuary Awards ceremony! The Sanctuary Awards have been showcasing outstanding sustainability and conservation efforts across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) estate since 1991, celebrating the achievements of teams and individuals in the …

Baby squirrels born on Ballykinler Training Area

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Ballykinler Training Area, Conservation, Wildlife
Alyn is a white man smiling at the camera. Behind him is some shrubbery and a green sign. He wears a blue shirt and tie with a navy gilet over the top.

I was pleased to hear about the birth of new red squirrel kittens on the Ballykinler Training Area. For the past five years Belfast Zoo has been working together with DIO as one of the organisations involved with the red squirrel breeding programme to protect and help red squirrels adapt to the wild across forests in Northern Ireland.